Home branding: creating and managing the image of a property

If we plan to sell a flat, simply posting the listing online is not enough. The abundance of flat and house listings at attractive prices does not work in our favour. In this case it is the clients who dictate the price and set one condition after another, only to choose a completely different listing from ours in the end. If we want to sell a property as quickly as possible and make the highest possible profit from the sale, we will need to change our attitude completely and turn from a passive seller into an active one. Knowledge of modern marketing techniques will also be essential.

An image for sale

No one can deny that taking care of one's image is an inseparable part of our lives. Whether in business or in private, so-called personal branding is a compulsory part of life for people working in corporations, private enterprises or firms.

Personal branding is nothing other than the ability to build your own brand, which is meant to make it easier, figuratively speaking, to sell yourself. It is about presenting all your individual abilities, skills, experience and professionalism properly and convincingly. Ultimately, well-planned personal branding translates into making maximum use of your personal potential and increases the chance of achieving success in life.

What does personal branding have to do with selling a house or flat? By analogy, home branding is creating and at the same time managing the image of the property we plan to sell. The overriding aim of home branding is to sell the property, while the secondary tasks include arousing the interest of as many potential buyers as possible and, thanks to that, achieving a satisfactory profit. So how do you create a property brand that will be interesting to clients and allow you to achieve your goals?

Arouse emotions

First, the factor that decides whether a client buys a given property is not always the price or the total area of the flat. Let us imagine the following situation: if a client has a choice of house or flat listings at a similar price, located moreover in the same neighbourhood, which one will they finally choose? The answer is simple. The one that arouses the most positive emotions in them. That is why the history of the house they intend to buy, and the character of its interior, are not insignificant to buyers. Every person naturally looks for a place that will suit their individual tastes.

At the beginning, the priority is to determine the target group at which we are aiming our listing. Will it be young people who prefer modern and original interiors, or rather someone who likes a slightly old-fashioned style? Or perhaps the group most interested in our listing will be a large family with children? If we are aware of which group of clients our listing is most attractive to, it will be much easier for us to choose the right strategy.

Only when we know who our main target group is should we define the tastes of these people precisely. It is mainly about the lifestyle that a particular group prefers. Going further, our task is to create a brand for the property being sold that suits this lifestyle.

If we do this in the right way, the property will arouse far more positive emotions among buyers. Then we are also able to manage the image of the property on an ongoing basis, so that the listing is convincing to clients.

Of course, creating a property brand on your own is by no means an easy task. It requires, above all, knowledge of clients' current preferences and a proper analysis of the contemporary property market. The ability to assess objectively the strengths and weaknesses of the flat or house being sold is also important. The best course is to consult an experienced estate agent.

Home branding in practice

Now that we have created a suitable image for our property, it is time for a few practical solutions. Starting with the advertisement, a matter neglected by many sellers is the description of the property. It is often incomplete, too short or written ungrammatically. Such listings have no chance of being found by a search engine, and even if someone does find them, they will quickly be dismissed. If our listing comes across as unserious and unprofessional from the start, most potential clients give up on further contact.

Another matter is the photograph of the property for sale, especially its absence or the poor quality of the image. If we do not have a natural talent for taking nice, atmospheric photographs, it is worth enlisting professional help and commissioning a photo shoot of our property. We can also go a step further to set our listing apart from the competition even more. A multimedia presentation or a video on YouTube with good music are further methods which are not yet as popular in Poland as abroad, and which are extremely effective. It would be a shame not to take advantage of them.